Spring!!

Happy Spring! Here are some photos from our adventures in April and May.

Jack going for a stroller ride all dressed up in winter gear. The cool shades are from when Ashley was a baby.

Jackapoo lookin' so handsome.


Ashley taking a cruise on her bike. We went on a ride up to the park and Ashley rode her bike the whole way! Notice blankey with tags even gets to ride in her basket.

Jack's first bike ride.

Yay, we finally get to celebrate our little princess' fourth birthday! (Recall Jack was in the hospital over Ashley's birthday 3/11/11) Ashley's birthday party was princess themed and all the little girls received princess party favors. They had so much fun.

Starting on the left: Ayla, Stella, Ashley, Maddy, Elsa, Allie, Lila, Violet

The birthday girl.

Four years old...unbelievable.

Jack with Great Grandma Marianne who was also all decked out in princess accessories. Other exciting news from Jack - on April 11th, he slept from 7:30pm to 6:15am when I woke him up! Could this be the start of him sleeping through the night??!!

Ashley received a set of wands, crowns, earrings and other princess accessories from Stella. Ashley decided "Bark Bark Roof Roof" would look beautiful all dressed up.

Where's Ashley? Look close! Do all kids love stuffed animals as much as Ashley?

Cousin Jessica, Grandma Sue and Ashley decorating sugar cookies for Easter. If you look close, you will see pink hanging out of Ashley's shirt. Let me tell you this one - I hear Ashley making struggling noises in her room. I went in and she is getting dressed and trying to put her shirt on over her nightgown. I say "AJ, you still have your nightgown on...do you want to take it off?" Ashely replies: "No mom, just help me get my shirt on over my nightgown because I don't want to have to put it on again at night time." Oh how I love that little girl!

April was still a yucky month for Jack. We continued with nebs to help with the respiratory crud.

Jack - 9 months old (4/24/11). Jack can now clap too!

Happy Easter! The Easter Bunny hid both Ashley & Jack's Easter baskets and left eggs filled with candy around the house.

Ashley all dolled up and ready to go to Grandma & Grandpa's house for Easter!

The Johnson cousins! (Jessica 13, Alex 1.5 , Jack 9 mo, Ashley 4)

Jack's first time in the outdoor swing. He loved it! Jack popped through two more bottom teeth on 4/29 and slept through the night almost every day the week of 4/24!

Jack is quickly outgrowing his infant car seat. The seat and Jack together must way 45lbs! I'm not kidding. HEAVY. On May 1st Jack can now go from laying down to sitting and he's started to scoot on the floor. It won't be long and this little guy will be crawling!

Awwww, so cute! Both Matt & Ashley got glasses! They are both farsighted - in fact, they have the exact same prescription. The eye doc is hopeful that the glasses will strengthen Ashley's wandering eye as well as improving her sight. On May 3rd, Ashley had surgery to put tubes in her ears again after we discovered at a doctors appt that she had a collapsed ear drum. After numerous hearing tests at the ENT, the ENT doc told me she was hearing as if she had ear plugs in and ear muffs over that. So, not hearing good at all!! That helped explain why she had started talking or should I say yelling when she would talk. After her surgery she said she could hear so good and that everything was so loud. She covered her ears at the restaurant and was startled by the noise of the toilets flushing.

Other news- 5/6-Ashley can now draw rainbows and butterflies! 5/12- Matt turns 35 and Jack is officially sleeping through the night! 5/16-Jack started pulling himself up into a standing position.

$20.00 craigslist score- a swing set for Ashley!

On 5/15 we celebrated Mother's Day with the Johnson's. We went on our annual trip to the nursery for flowers and stuff for the veggie garden. Ashley, Alex and Jack hopped in the cart for a ride.

We usually celebrate Matt's birthday on Mother's Day. Look at the marvelous cake Sue made for Matt's birthday. Yummy!

Ashley got to ride home with daddy in the Nesconset NY firetruck. Daddy then left that afternoon to deliver the firetruck to NY.

Washington D.C.! I was lucky enough to hitch a ride in Jim's plane (Matt's boss) to Washington DC where I met up with Matt for a weekend away. What a blast we had in a short weekend get away. We walked and walked and walked around DC in attempt to see all we could in 1.5 days. Thanks to G&G J and G-ma T and G-pa R for watching the kids while we were gone! Thanks to the Brooks' for watching Ruby. :)

The Lincoln Memorial.

Jack - 10 months old! He got another 4 teeth over memorial weekend (that's a total of 8 teeth now) AND on 5/28 - he started crawling!!! He's also started eating little cracker chunks and drinking out of a sippy cup.

Our first boat ride of the season.

AJ lovin' life!

Jack lovin' life.

March Pictures

Hello! Here are a few pictures from March.

Jackapoo sporting his spike hairdo. This little guys is the happiest baby. This may have been his last bath in the baby tub. He's getting so big!! I can now give him a bath at the same time as Ashley. They love playing in the tub together. Ashley thinks it is so fun to get Jack's hair all wet and put it into a mohawk.

Ashley and Jack snuggling

As you may recall from my post for February, Jack had a rough month with ear infections, pink eye and pneumonia. Well...it just didn't get better. Our primary doctor had suggested that we see an allergist because they might be able to prescribe a medicine for the nebulizer that could help reduce the phlegm Jack was dealing with. His breathing was still so strained and the meds didn't seem to be helping with his pneumonia. Anyway, I took Jack to the allergist and his suggestion...take Jack to Children's ER. He said, not because it was an emergency but because he wanted him to be seen today and who knows how long it would take if we had to make an appt. So, Jack and I headed to Children's ER. The lobby was full of waiting kids. It took about 5 minutes to be seen for the initial check by the nurse in the waiting area and she then brought us right back to a room. Jack's oxygen levels were low. So, they did 3 neb treatments and sucked mucus out by going in through his nose with a small tube. The neb treatments didn't have an effect on his breathing. Next was chest xrays and testing for RSV. Both test came back positive. Pneumonia and RSV. Jack and I spent the next 5 days in the hospital!

He usually looked like this. Smiley. That's just the way he is!! Unfortunately, the 5 days in the hospital overlapped with Ashley's 4th birthday! That was the hardest part of being in the hospital, I missed my baby girls 4th birthday. :( We had to cancel the birthday party we had planned for her that weekend. Daddy took her on a special fun day with the Brooks family to the Shoreview Community Center. To top off the craziness of it all, I got the flu on Sunday 3/13 and had to leave the hospital. I was sick for 5 days with it!! Anyway, it took a lot of coordinating for me to come home, Matt to go to the hospital, arranging care for Ashley etc. Thankfully Matt's parents had just returned from their 2 month stay in Florida. Jack came home from the hospital Monday afternoon. Sue came over to take care of Jack the rest of the week while I tried to get over the flu.

After arriving home from the hospital on Monday, we gave AJ her birthday presents. I still can't believe she's 4. I keep teasing her that she can't get any older. She has to stay 4.

Ashley was quietly playing by herself in her room. She doesn't often play by herself. Here's what we found when checking on her. She'd emptied out her toy box and was playing inside it!

My pretty little princess!

On March 20th we celebrated the March birthdays at the Johnson's. Sue turned 63, I turned 34 and AJ turned 4. Sue made my FAVORITE dessert. They also got me an awesome beach umbrella from Florida and I just can't wait to use it this summer down on our beach!!

Ashley showing off her new princess cape (I know that's not what it's called...just can't think of the right word).

I took the kids to get their pictures taken at Kiddie Kandid's. Jack is 7 months old in these pictures.

Ashley Jane - 4 years old

Ashley has resisted or refused to take her pictures the last two times I have taken her. This time, she was so cooperative!

What else happened in March? While staying at G & G J's, Ashley cut her own hair. It looks pretty cute...just a few layers around her face. Sue had asked me if I had recently cut Ashley's hair or if Ashley might have cut it on her own because she was working on an art project with scissors. When I asked Ashley if she cut her hair, after a little hesitation, her response was "Yep, and it didn't even hurt!". I asked her to show me where she put her hair and the little stinker hid it under the rocking chair in their living room!! It blended in with the carpet. What else? Matt was in Indiana for work from 3/19 to 3/27. He flew home on my birthday 3/23 and we were able to go out to supper. He then flew back to Indiana the very next morning. On March 31st, Jack and I went back to Children's ER at 3am. This time...croupe. We were sent back home after a steroid and neb treatment in the hospital. We got back home at 6:15am. I then got AJ ready for daycare and we left Matt at home with Jack. I can't remember the last time I pulled an all nighter and then went to work and worked a full day on only 2 hours of sleep. I for one am ready to leave this winter weather and all the yucky illness behind!

February 2011

Happy February!

Here's a picture of Jack with spiked blue hair...the result of "Crazy Hair Day" at daycare.

I took Ashley to Rosedale Mall so that she could pick out a dress for her birthday. We arrived at the mall a little after 10am and discovered that the stores didn't open until 11 on Sundays. Jack slept soundly in the stroller and Ashley and I did some window shopping to pass the time. We must have gone from one end of the mall to the other at least 10 times looking for shoes to go with the dress she picked out. I was pushing the stroller and Ashley was sitting on top of the handles while I attempted to balance her and push at the same time. I think we'll have to invest in a stand up and sit stroller before we attempt such outings again. Ashley picked out a black dress with neon green accents and we found a matching green shirt for Jack too for when we take their pictures together. All in all it was a successful adventure.

My cousin Sam threw his second annual fishing contest "Fish Fest" the proceeds going to People Serving People. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and we had a great time. We were joined by Brent, Lydia and Alex and there were several family members from the Schuette side at the event as well. It was a great time.

Ashley doing her part to try to win 1st prize!

Ashley taking a snack break.

Here we are with my cousins daughter Izzy. Izzy is a year (almost to the date) older than Ashley. They have such a fun time playing together. My Uncle Tom pulled us in this sled behind his 4-wheeler.

Ashley colored this rose for me for Valentines days. Her coloring skills are excellent.

Last month we had such success taking the kids to see Tangled that we though we'd try the movie theater again. This time we were joined by the Brooks family and we watched Gnomeo and Juliet. It was a cute movie but didn't keep the kids attention like Tangled did.

After the movies we went to Mc D's for supper and to let the kids play in the playland. Last time we were at the playland, Ashley was very hesitant to play in these tubes and wanted Matt or I to play with her. A few months later and she didn't hesitate at all!

My little princess! She could spend every moment of her life dressed in sparkly shoes or clothes with beautiful jewelry, tiaras etc!

Girls Winter Weekend! Stopped at the casino for bloody marys on our way to Duluth.

(Sheli, Jessie, Julie, Crystal and me!)

When we arrived at the hotel, there was a bucket of campaign and chocolate...for ME! Matt had called the hotel and arranged for this as an early birthday surprise. Boy, was I ever surprised!

Other events in February: on 2/1 Jack slept from 8:30 to 3:30am! 7 hours of sleep for me! On 2/8 Jack got his first ear infection. On 2/17 Jack starts sitting all by himself!! On 2/18 Jack got pinkeye. On 2/23 Jack got a second ear infection. He also started reaching for Matt or I if someone else was holding him. On 2/25 Jack got pneumonia. Stay tuned for the adventures we've had in March!